44.348: Advanced Seminar on
Weapons of Mass Destruction
and Terrorism
Week 2: Chemical Weapons
Dr. James Forest
Chemical Weapon Attributes
• Use the toxic properties of chemical substances to cause physical or
psychological harm to an enemy
• Can be delivered through bombs, rockets, artillery shells, spray
tanks, and missile warheads; can be dispersed as vapors, aerosols
or liquids
• Many kinds have been developed since WWI, including choking
agents, blister agents, blood agents, nerve agents, incapacitants,
riot-control agents, and herbicides.
• Some are highly lethal; a few drops can kill victims within minutes
• Some evaporate in minutes or hours and lose their effect rapidly.
– Sarin is a lethal but nonpersistent nerve agent.
– VX can persist for days or weeks in lethal form
Types and Categories
• Biotoxins
• Long-acting anticoagulants
• Blister agents/vesicants
• Metals
• Blood agents
• Nerve agents
• Caustics (acids)
• Organic solvents
• Choking/lung/pulmonary
agents
• Riot control agents/tear gas
• Incapacitating agents
• Toxic alcohols
• Vomiting agents
Source: Centers for Disease Control
Hazardous Chemicals
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Abrin
Arsine (SA)
Benzene (CA)
Bromine (CA)
Bromobenzylcyanide (CA)
Chlorine (CL)
Chloroacetophenone (CN)
Chlorobenzylidenemalononitrile
(CS)
Chloropicrin (PS)
Cyanide
Cyanogen chloride (CK)
Dibenzoxazepine (CR)
Hydrogen fluoride (hydrofluoric
acid)
Hydrogen cyanide (AC)
Lewisite (L, L-1, L-2, L-3)
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Mustard gas (H)
Nitrogen mustard (HN-1, HN-2, HN-3)
Paraquat
Phosgene (CG)
Phosgene oxime (CX)
Potassium cyanide (KCN)
Ricin
Riot control agents/tear gas
Sarin (GB)
Sodium azide
Sodium cyanide (NaCN)
Soman (GD)
Stibine
Strychnine
Sulfur mustard (H)
Tabun (GA)
Tear gas/riot control agents
VX
Source: Centers for Disease Control
Choking and Blood Agents
• Choking agents cause respiratory damage and
asphyxiation
– Include chlorine, phosgene, fentanyl gas
– Phosgene was responsible for roughly 80 percent of all deaths
caused by chemical arms in World War I (see film clip)
• Blood agents prevent the transfer of oxygen to the cells,
causing the body to asphyxiate
– Include hydrogen cyanide and cyanogen chloride
• Both choking and blood agents are delivered as gas
clouds to the target area
• Best defense is a good gas mask
Example: CHLORINE
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Used during World War I
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One of the most commonly
manufactured chemicals in the U.S.,
– Bleach, pesticides (insect killers),
rubber, and solvents
– drinking water, swimming pools
– industrial waste and sewage
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Chlorine gas is heavier than air
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Contact with chlorine gas can damage
moist tissues such as the eyes, throat,
and lungs.
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Potential exposure through skin
contact, eye contact, touching, or
drinking water that contains chlorine.
Immediate signs and
symptoms of exposure:
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Coughing
Chest tightness
Burning sensation in the
nose, throat, and eyes
Watery eyes
Blurred vision
Nausea and vomiting
Burning pain, redness, and
blisters on the skin
Difficulty breathing or
shortness of breath
Fluid in the lungs
Source: Centers for Disease Control
Blistering Agents
Examples include sulfur mustard, nitrogen mustard and lewisite
Delivered in liquid or vapor form, blistering agents burn the skin, eyes,
windpipe, and lungs
Mustard gas is most popular due to ease of production, low cost,
predictable properties, persistence
– Penetrates leather and fabrics
– Causes painful burns requiring immediate medical attention
– This consumes an enemy military’s resources more than fatalities
• Best defense is a good gas mask and protective clothing
Nerve Gases
• Nerve agents attack the nervous system when inhaled or absorbed
by the skin, causing a loss of muscle control, respiratory failure,
and eventually death (see film clip)
• Require much lower quantities than blood, choking, blister agents
• Can be classified as either
– G agents (like sarin or tabun )
– V agents (like VX)
• Some nerve agents such as sarin, tabun, soman, and VX can kill
almost instantly; a few droplets absorbed through the skin can
paralyze and cause death in minutes.
• Defense against nerve agents requires skintight gas mask and
protective clothing
Other types
• Incapacitants
– can incapacitate, disorient, or paralyze opponents
– may attack the nervous system and derange a victim's
mental processes, causing (for example) hallucinations
or psychotic thinking
• Binary
– use toxic chemicals produced by mixing two compounds
immediately before or during use
– Safer, easier to store and handle
Weaponization and Delivery
• Hazardous chemicals must be
“weaponized”
– May include the addition of chemical stabilizers
to extend its shelf-life or to facilitate its delivery
as an aerosol or spray
• Effective delivery system is necessary
– Sprayer systems (Crop dusters, small airplanes,
or helicopters)
– Explosives (though some of the chemicals
would be destroyed in the explosion)
– Food and water contamination
Brief History of Chemical Weapons
• History of chemical weapons use by States:
– Athenians poisoned water supplies
– Mongolians catapulted burning pitch and sulfur into
cities during a siege
– World War I: Chlorine and mustard gas were first
developed and used, leading to an estimated
1,300,000 casualties, including 91,000 fatalities
– Between World Wars: Used by British, Spanish, Italian,
Soviet and Japanese forces in various conflicts
– World War II: Lots of CW types developed, but not
used in WWII (except possibly Japan)
Brief History of Chemical Weapons
• Post-WWII:
– Vietnam War: Agent Orange used by US forces
– Yemen Civil War: Egyptians use mustard gas and
phosgene
– Soviet occupied Afghanistan: mustard gas used
against rebels
– Libya used mustard gas against rebels in Chad
– 2002, Fentanyl gas used to kill Chechen terrorists in
Moscow
Iraq
• During the 1980s, Iraq had a huge stockpile of
mustard gas made with chemicals from several
countries, including 500 tons of TDG manufactured in
Baltimore that were sold to Iraq, via a trafficking
network orchestrated by a Dutch businessman.
– Iraq used mustard gas and nerve agents against Iran’s human
wave attacks during the Iran-Iraq War
– Used against Iraqi Kurds
– The Australia Group, which monitors the export and shipping of
chemical precursors and equipment and supports the CWC, had
no impact on Saddam Hussein’s efforts to expand his chemical
weapons program.
Modern Chemical Weapons Programs
• Chlorine, phosgene, hydrogen cyanide, and sulfur mustard
are relatively easy to manufacture
• Production of nerve agents requires high temperatures,
dangerous chemicals, expertise in synthetic organic chemistry
• Dozens of countries had CW programs; least expensive form
of WMD; most CW programs have been were abandoned
• Even poor countries; for example, Libya
– Began CW program in the 1980s
– Declared intent “to balance Israel’s WMD capabilities”
– Built two of the largest chemical weapons facilities in the world,
near Rabta and Tarhuna
– December 2003: Abandons program, allows international
inspections
Proliferation Concerns
• Geneva Convention
• Chemical Weapons Convention
– Signatories agreed to destroy all chemical weapons and
facilities
– Countries that have not joined CWC include Angola, Egypt,
North Korea, Somalia and Syria
– Israel, China and Iran have signed CWC, but are
suspected of having secret CW programs; Israel has never
ratified the CWC
• Dual use problem of precursor chemicals, technologies
for commercial industries
Chemical Weapons Stockpiles
• Declared CW stockpiles (slated for destruction) in 4
countries: Albania, Libya, Russia, and the United States
• Russia has largest amount (44,000 tons of mustard gas,
VX, sarin, etc.) but limited means to dispose of it safely
• India and South Korea just completed destruction of their
CW stockpiles
• Special case of “riot control” chemicals
U.S. Chemical Weapons
• Chemical weapons destruction program in the U.S. led by
U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency
• The last 10% of US stockpiles, at Pueblo Chemical Depot in
Colorado and the Blue Grass Army Depot in Kentucky, should
be destroyed by 2017 and 2021, respectively
U.S. 155-millimeter
chemical munitions,
shown in storage at the
Pueblo Chemical
Depot in Colorado.
Terrorist Interests in CW
Chemical terrorism: “Use or threat of use of chemical agents by a Non-State
Actor for furtherance of political, social, religious or any other ideological goals”
Instruction manuals reflect terrorists interests in chemical weapons
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11th volume of Al-Qaeda’s 5,000-page Encyclopedia of Jihad is “How to
construct chemical and biological weapons”
The Mujahideen Poisons Handbook – see Blackboard folder
Acquisition and use of chemical weapons by terrorists
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April 1985, United States: stockpile of cyanide discovered in a compound
of the Covenant, Sword and Arm of the Lord
June 1990, Sri Lanka: Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) used
chlorine gas in an assault on a Sri Lankan Armed Forces camp
June 2003, Malaysia: chemicals found in a Jemaah Islamiyah compound
March-June 2006, Iraq: Insurgents use chlorine gas as component in
improvised explosive devices
Aum Shinrikyo
• Production facility, Satian 7
– Produced Sarin, VX
• June 1994, Matsumoto
– How? Why? Impact?
• March 1995, Tokyo subway
– How? Why? Impact?
• Anomaly or harbinger of future WMD terrorist
scenario?
Al-Mubtakkar (“The Invention”)
Designed by al-Qaida operatives for
potential deployment in attack against
the New York City subway system
Responses to the CW Threat
• Gas masks, protective clothing for military
• Atropine-filled hypodermic needles to fight the effects of nerve gas
exposures
• Chemical agent sensors deployed by military, and increasingly by
cities in public gathering spaces, airports, train stations, etc.
• Chemical hazard suits and Hazmat teams
• Crowd decontamination facilities
• Public health system capacity for medical triage and treatment of
large numbers of casualties
• Role of public health providers, hospitals, physicians, monitoring for
potential chemical exposure emergencies
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CDC Chemical Emergencies website: http://www.bt.cdc.gov/chemical/
Pre-positioned chemical weapons?
• Chemical storage facilities
• Urban transportation of toxic chemicals
Conclusion
• Summary of attributes
– Relatively inexpensive WMD
– Can be delivered through bombs, rockets, artillery
shells, spray tanks, and missile warheads
– Many kinds, including choking agents, blister agents,
blood agents, nerve agents, incapacitants, riot-control
agents, and herbicides.
– Nerve agents are the most lethal
– Widely available (commercial chemicals)
• Specific infrastructure concerns include storage
facilities, transport tankers
Conclusion
• Historical uses of chemical weapons
– Most widely used WMD
– Massive stockpiles were developed, slowly being destroyed
• National programs (known and clandestine) have led to
modern availability of chemical weapons
• Dual use chemicals and technologies
• Terrorists are clearly interested in these weapons